Clock (c. 1905–15): Art, History and Details

Clock (c. 1905–15) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Henrik Wigström (Russian, 1862–1923); House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The use of Russian hardstones in creating precious objects became a hallmark of design from the House of Fabergé. Easily carved, these minerals were sourced largely from the western region surrounding the Ural Mountains. Fabergé's workmasters used colorful stones such as agate, nephrite (jade), lapis lazuli, rock crystal, and rhodonite, seen here in this small desk clock, to create and embellish flower studies, animal figures, and all manner of luxurious accessories. Bright pink rhodonite was among the rarest, and consequently most expensive, specimens used by the House of Fabergé.

Object facts

• Title: Clock
• Date: c. 1905–15
• Creator attribution: Henrik Wigström (Russian, 1862–1923); House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918)
• Culture: Russia, St. Petersburg
• Type: Timepiece
• Technique: rhodonite, silver, enamel, diamonds
• Dimensions: Overall: 5.3 x 5 x 2.9 cm (2 1/16 x 1 15/16 x 1 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1966.476

A detail from the museum

The bright pink color of this small desk clock is a result of manganese, the principle mineral found in rhodonite.

Collection credit

The India Early Minshall Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hawley, Henry H. Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
• Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.